Batgung

Waterfall Bay Park runs along the shoreline in front of the Wah Fu estate. At the southern end of the park is a collection of Chinese gods - worth a visit if you're in the area. Then if you follow the park to its northern end you'll see the small bay and waterfall that gives the park its name.

Here we pan from the waterfall on the right, round to the peninsula and pillbox 6. In the background you can see the towers of Bel-Air on the Peak, as Cyberport is just over the other side of the hill.

The people you can hear in the video were fishing. They say you can walk across the bay at low tide, but when the tide is in you have to go up over the top, behind the waterfall. As the tide was definitely in I walked back up the steps, and climbed over the fence to find this pretty stream.

Don't forget how high that waterfall is - so don't get too close to the edge!

There's a well-worn path from the park, across the stream, and up to Cyberport Road. (If you're starting from that direction, look for the point where the concrete barrier on the edge of the road changes to a metal fence - you'll see the path leads down to the river from there. Cross the water and you're at the edge of the Waterfall Bay park.)

The oldest image of this waterfall is a watercolour by William Havell dated 1816. At that time the waterfall was known to Western sailors as a place to replenish supplies of fresh water. Click here to see the watercolour (the audio guide on that page is also worth listening to if you are interested in the history).

There's another picture in the library collection, this one a photo dated to the late 1870s. [Use this search form, check the 'photo' box, type 'waterfall' as the search text, and click the 'search' button]. The description given by the library suggests it is a photo of the waterfall that runs into the sea, but I think they are mistaken. The cliff-face in the photo looks different, there is a bridge that shouldn't be there, and there is no sign of the sea in the foreground. So it may be part of the same river that runs down to the waterfall at waterfall bay, but I believe the photo was taken elsewhere. Could the bridge be the one that is just above the head of the water in the current Pok Fu Lam reservoir? If the reservoir was drained would you see the waterfall shown in the old photo?

MrB